Glauron by Frozen Fractal

[raw]
made by Frozen Fractal for LD33 (COMPO)
Glauron, son of Glaurung, First of the Winged Dragons, has broken free of his five hundred year imprisonment, and he is not happy! Help him avenge himself and wreak havoc among the innocent citizens, but be careful, they are armed!

An HTML5 game made with Crafty.js and Howler.js. Should work in at least Chrome, Chromium and Firefox.

Post-compo compatibility fixes to make it work in Firefox:
- innerText is nonstandard, use textContent instead.
- Convert audio to ogg and mp3 because wav doesn't work.
- Lay out ground sprites horizontally in the sprite sheet so they don't "bleed".
- Add a separate upside-down wing sprite because negative sprite heights throw IndexSizeError.

Ratings

Coolness 50% 3
Overall 3.86 58
Audio 2.82 422
Fun 3.80 67
Graphics 4.06 82
Humor 2.37 613
Innovation 3.34 253
Mood 3.62 115
Theme 3.89 149

Feedback

fmdud
23. Aug 2015 · 19:05 UTC
sweet!
tGiant
23. Aug 2015 · 19:29 UTC
Well done. This is so far my most favorite game.
Sam Twidale
24. Aug 2015 · 05:37 UTC
Solid gameplay and good graphics + mood using that simple silhouette of the hills. Procedural terrain is also a nice touch, that's something I'll have to try next time.
vanderZwan
24. Aug 2015 · 12:19 UTC
Can't vote, because not participating, but great work Thomas! :)
terop
24. Aug 2015 · 13:06 UTC
This game is very nice. I liked how you control the dragon. It just sometimes went outside the screen and after that it was difficult to control it; then i always crashed the dragon... But excellent game...
mantis
24. Aug 2015 · 13:06 UTC
Great game! Love the gameplay idea, and the flying dragon just looks sweet.
ksanochka
24. Aug 2015 · 13:07 UTC
nice game tho
FerraWare
24. Aug 2015 · 13:08 UTC
Wow, excellent game!

Pros:
-Excellent graphics
-Really polished
-Nice combination of mechanics

Cons:
-Kinda difficult to control the dragon
Franklin's Ghost
24. Aug 2015 · 13:27 UTC
Such a fun entry, really enjoyed playing this one. The dragon is really well animated and the flying handled great once you figured it out. Also liked that the arrows stayed in your body when you were hit, was a nice touch.
rudra
24. Aug 2015 · 13:38 UTC
Lovely Graphics and Gameplay. And a very polished one too (y). Well Done.
LittleThor
24. Aug 2015 · 13:45 UTC
Polished, challenging and nice looking game. Nice work!
dusho
24. Aug 2015 · 16:23 UTC
nice.. flappy dragon
game becomes laggy with lots of fire/smoke on screen
vanderZwan
24. Aug 2015 · 20:36 UTC
Just discovered that if an arrow hits you head-on, you can still burn it off for 2 points. Nice.
Benjaminsen
24. Aug 2015 · 23:11 UTC
Loved the graphical silhouette style. Found the controls a bit hard to master but very enjoyable when I did. Would have been cool with some background music but the sounds seems to fit the game quite well.
Wontonz
25. Aug 2015 · 00:47 UTC
Graphics are astounding The silhouette look really brings the game together. Controls were much easier to use when I switched to the keyboard
Dining Philosopher
25. Aug 2015 · 11:31 UTC
Wow, great work Thomas! Beautiful color scheme and animation, and a good difficulty curve. I liked the challenge of collecting hearts, it's such a doh-moment when they all fly over your head :P

The game did get a little choppy on my laptop when there was a lot going on, I made it to level 7 - twice. At that point I mostly had to play by my sense of guess to time the wing flaps.
GBGames
25. Aug 2015 · 19:56 UTC
Beautiful game! I love the use of simple dark shapes against a sunset.

I never did understand what the white arrows did differently from black arrows. I did like the multipliers you could get for hitting multiple things in one shot, and getting multiple hearts for hitting churches/steeples seemed to always come when I needed them most.

On my final attempt, I got 1588 points, and I fell right before Level 5! A great game.

Was there audio? I didn't hear anything, but I see you want to be rated in it.
Jupiter_Hadley
25. Aug 2015 · 20:30 UTC
Simple but beautiful graphics! I included it in part 4 of my Ludum Dare 33 Compilation video series, if you would like to take a look :) https://youtu.be/NqmWO8MUX6c
JoseArias
26. Aug 2015 · 05:43 UTC
Very fun! Great game and idea.
OnionBlaze
26. Aug 2015 · 10:43 UTC
Fun and challenging! Loved how the dragon's controls worked.
LeoM
26. Aug 2015 · 12:49 UTC
1874 on 4th row
Nice one. ;)
The dragon is a bit tricky to control.
derr
26. Aug 2015 · 13:15 UTC
Wow that dragon is very nicely animated. The black silhouettes work well against the background. The game itself is quite challenging, you really have to time your wing flaps well.
🎤 Frozen Fractal
26. Aug 2015 · 16:02 UTC
@GBGames:
The white arrows are immune to fire, so they're a lot harder to defend against.
Yes, there should be audio. What's your browser and platform? Do the demos at http://goldfirestudios.com/blog/104/howler.js-Modern-Web-Audio-Javascript-Library work for you?
CrazyMinnowStudio
26. Aug 2015 · 16:12 UTC
AWESOME! Great mechanics! So far, I'm not really good at it, but I love it and plan to get a lot better. Really nice. Great Job!
stahlmanDesign
26. Aug 2015 · 16:19 UTC
Amazing graphics, gameplay and detail (arrows that stick in dragon, different kinds of arrows). Beautiful and simple. Wonderful game.
baykush_figtree
26. Aug 2015 · 16:26 UTC
Really cool! Sweet gameplay goodness here.
I would recommend playing while listening to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHF_bIjIPAE
DAT.NOT.MY.GAME!
26. Aug 2015 · 16:26 UTC
Nice sky-sliding dragon!
Maramasa
26. Aug 2015 · 16:30 UTC
Visually striking game with satisfying gameplay. Good job!
johnhattan
26. Aug 2015 · 16:34 UTC
Excellent game. Good graphics and animation and audio. Everything moves smoothly. Terrific work for the time-frame.
bitdecaygames
26. Aug 2015 · 16:41 UTC
That is an awesome game! I really like your comment about focusing on making a FUN game before you make a good looking game. I feel like I've fallen into that pit more than a few times. Great job!
Serch
26. Aug 2015 · 16:49 UTC
Great game nice graphics and good game play, congrats good job
Wevel
26. Aug 2015 · 16:51 UTC
Love the animation on the dragon, great game
warlorddreadful
26. Aug 2015 · 16:52 UTC
Very smooth animation - and the decision to go with silhouettes and a sunset did a good job setting a dark mood to the game. Definitely had a bit of a learning curve, at least for me - it might help to have lower hills towards the beginning, and have them go higher up in the later levels, since I think part of the difficulty was not having enough room to fly. That might also allow players to learn the gameplay at a more gradual pace. It was very fun though, and destroying houses and archers was extremely satisfying! This was a hard game to stop playing. Great job.
🎤 Frozen Fractal
26. Aug 2015 · 16:56 UTC
@warlorddreadful: Great idea about the terrain. If I develop this further (which is likely) I'll definitely include that.
Literal Games
26. Aug 2015 · 17:09 UTC
Fun! Liked the art style. Tiny thing, not really an issue but something that confused me at first: space is attack and click is flap. Took a couple of goes to get used to, only becuase traditionally it would be the other way round. Had a nice sense of progression!
01101101
26. Aug 2015 · 17:09 UTC
Cool game, loved the dragon movement, the smooth chaining of levels and the fact that the arrows stuck to the dragon :)
Nice work!
Mantlair
26. Aug 2015 · 17:12 UTC
Very neat. Just too complete for a compo entry. Well done!
Grhyll
26. Aug 2015 · 17:13 UTC
Came here after reading your post-mortem :)

Very nice game! Pretty without a doubt, interesting in its mechanics (the balance staying close to the ground/flying high), it's great :)
pirate_shell
26. Aug 2015 · 17:13 UTC
Nicely done. It's simple but works. Reminds me very much of a mobile game. The graphics were smooth and the gameplay was simple and to the point. Overall, good entry.
🎤 Frozen Fractal
26. Aug 2015 · 17:21 UTC
@Literal Games: There are keyboard controls (space, up arrow) and mouse controls (left click, right click). I wasn't anticipating anyone trying to use both at the same time, sorry :)
FirebrushStudios
26. Aug 2015 · 17:36 UTC
the clever way you created the dragon animation is amazing, i really like the look and feel, would love to see this on a mobile platform
Deity
26. Aug 2015 · 17:49 UTC
Graphics, controls and gameplay were all well done.

Also loved your post-mortem writeup. Keep it up!
Multiplexor
26. Aug 2015 · 18:07 UTC
Superneat! I love the graphics and i love the gameplay!

Keep up the good work!
kgabis
26. Aug 2015 · 18:34 UTC
I like the concept, but game would be much more fun to play if it was faster and aiming would be independent from movement.
LeafThief
26. Aug 2015 · 18:48 UTC
It always felt very close and a bit too slow but also very rewarding. I had good fun with this so thanks :)
jwin
26. Aug 2015 · 18:57 UTC
Very good game! The mechanics seem simple, but aiming and flying at the same time provides a good challenge.
vanderZwan
26. Aug 2015 · 19:37 UTC
Don't listen to kgabis - balancing aiming and moving while they work against each other is part of the fun!
Hippomancer
26. Aug 2015 · 22:37 UTC
Great gameplay. Great graphics :)
daydreamcorgigames
27. Aug 2015 · 09:39 UTC
The control is not really easy. I could not have the dragon fly at the altitude I want.
popcorn897
27. Aug 2015 · 17:21 UTC
This game is awesome! It's an epic feeling to be flying over destroying everything with the beautiful sunset in the background. The dragons movement feels heavy and majestic, which really fit the game. You made a "Destroy and Kill" game but also a "Landscape with a majestic beast" game. Excellent work!
Dizzyman572
01. Sep 2015 · 14:18 UTC
Loved the graphics in this! And the gameplay felt very nice and fun!
bombjack
02. Sep 2015 · 18:31 UTC
nice graphics and fun gameplay.
Drauthius
04. Sep 2015 · 20:18 UTC
Very nice game. Was a bit laggy on Firefox, which was a big shame since the game is a lot of fun. Would have been nice with a "thud" sound when hitting the ground, and it took a while to figure out that I had to collect the hearts.
walsh9
05. Sep 2015 · 05:40 UTC
So fun! It felt like there was a nice balance of risk/reward in going for the hearts, combo kills, etc. Wanna divebomb guys don't wanna crash. Great game.
treeman
05. Sep 2015 · 08:12 UTC
Very nice. Polished, beautiful. Controls felt slightly off, but nothing really major.